Mohd Arif Latif upset by BAM’s decision to let him go

Frankly, the whole BAM management and some coaches should be fired instead of good players such as Mohd Arif Latif, and other young men's singles shuttler. (photo: Bernama)

Kuala Lumpur: Mohd Arif Latif, who represented Malaysia at the Thomas Cup Finals in Bangkok last month, was disappointed after the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) has decided to remove him from the Malaysian national squad.

Arif and his men’s doubles partner Azriyn were selected into the Malaysian national squad together with another professional player, Lim Khim Wah in order to provide stronger support for the weak men’s doubles department during the Thomas Cup Finals. Arif was among final roster that played for the Malaysian team in Bangkok.

Through his Instagram account, the former Malaysian men’s singles player said: “Today Azriyn and I received bad news from BAM as they wanted us to leave the national team.”

“This was unfair because we have entered into an agreement with the sponsors so that we could play for BAM,”

“We were asked to leave the national squad, but the three-month probation period would only end in July.”

“What has BAM done for us during this period? They didn’t send us to any tournaments, then, how can we prove what we can do for the country?”

“If we knew it would be like this, we would definitely not be joining the national squad,” said Arif, who didn’t hold back about his frustration towards the men’s doubles head coach Cheah Soon Kit.

“I do not blame BAM entirely, the head coach himself has to be fair,”

“Not only us, but players like Ameer (Amri) Zainuddin who gave 100 percent commitment during the training session was also not given any opportunity to play in tournaments.”

“Only players who are close to the head coach are still in the team,” he said.